4 Secrets to Guilt-Free Cupcakes

From Hungry Girl:

Posted Tue, Jul 14, 2009, 3:26 pm PDT
http://food.yahoo.com/blog/hungrygirl/31517/4-secrets-to-guilt-free-cupcakes

The cupcake is one of those irresistible little treats that can get WAY out of hand. Those crazy, designer, fancy, boutique-bakery cupcakes? YIKES. They can easily get up around the 600-calorie mark. Hungry Girl has the scoop on how to make the best low-calorie cupcakes around. The best part? No one will EVER suspect they're low in calories and fat...

Our Best Secret Ingredients

These help make our cupcakes guilt-free and delicious... Canned Pure Pumpkin - This stuff makes an excellent substitute for eggs and oil in cupcake recipes. In fact, mixing up a 15-oz. can of pumpkin with nothing but a standard box of devil's food cake mix creates a yummy, brownie-like treat that works great when baked in muffin tins. No-sugar-added applesauce is also a good natural add-in.

Fat-Free Liquid Egg Substitute - What's the point of using real eggs in baking, as opposed to this fat-free stuff? You won't be able to tell the difference, and with real eggs, there'll be WAY more fat and cholesterol in your dish. Use 1/4 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original) in place of each egg, and you'll slim down your batter. Save the whole eggs for making our Eggs Bene-chick. Mmmmm...

Diet Hot Cocoa Packets - We mix these into our recipes to boost the chocolatey-ness without adding crazy amounts of calories and fat. Look for packets with around 25 calories each, like the kind by Swiss Miss. Plus, they're great to have on hand for a sweet-drink fix.

Cool Whip Free - This is an INTEGRAL ingredient in several of our frostings, helping to keep them from getting too heavy. If you're feeling really lazy, just top your little cakes with this whipped cream swap -- but we usually like to mix it with a few extra goodies. Pudding is also a great cupcake topper. Cupcakes You Can Make TODAY!

See! Not all our cupcake recipes are confined to the pages of a cookbook. Here are a few of the best ones we have online. They're AMAZING!!! I'll admit, I was skeptical. BUUUUT if you must have cupcakes for your birthday or something, at least these little guys are low-cal and portion-controlled.
14-Carat Cupcakes -- carrot cake cupcakes that don't totally blow. YUM!
Death by Chocolate Cupcakes
Red Velvet Insanity Cupcakes
Crazy Crumbly Super Yummy Coffee Cakes

Just be aware that while Hungry Girl is relatively safe, she's more about Weight Watchers than low-carb. Still, if you must cheat, this is better than going whole hog and hurting yourself.

Comments

Unknown said…
Have you been reading my brain?
I had to make 4 ...yes 4...batches last week and "accidentally" ate one or two... or five or six...
thanks heaps!
August 25, 2009 at 5:57 AM
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